BRUSSELS, Oct 17 (Reuters) - NATO should give Ukraine a membership invitation now, Lithuania's Defence minister Laurynas Kasciunas told reporters ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels on Thursday.

"The invitation is a first stage, but it's a real irreversibility, a point of no return," Kasciunas said.

"If you want to push Russians back from NATO territory, from even idea to test NATO, the best way to do it is to support Ukraine in every means."

(Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Writing by Makini Brice)

((M.Brice@thomsonreuters.com;))